Correia: Media is unfair, I saw the real face of Ronda Rousey
Bethe Correia: “I saw the real face of the current champ trying to pose as a saint while she always said publicly that she wanted to make me ‘have a meeting with Jesus.'”
Trash talk in fighting can get dark.
When Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic torch in 1996, defining rival ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier said he wished he could have pushed Ali into the flames. The pair had not fought in over 20 years.
“I want to cut him into pieces and send him up to Jesus,” Frazier also said.
Before her fight with UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, Bethe Correia said she would defeat Rousey, and added she hoped it didn’t make her commit suicide. As Rousey lost her father to suicide, the remarks were widely criticized.
Rousey’s longtime mentor Gene LeBell recently appeared on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and said Ronda was disappointed she didn’t break Bethe’s arm, leg, or neck. Fan and media reaction to LeBell’s statement was generally along the lines of “heh heh heh.”
Corriea said there was a double standard in the media reactions.
“I was extremely criticized and judged by lack of respect due to a bad interpretation of the current champ,” said Correia, on Instagram. “All that time I saw the real face of the current champ trying to pose as a saint while she always said publicly that she wanted to make me “have a meeting with Jesus” which was her true intention. The media never gave that much coverage. I’d never would fight anyone with the intention to kill, break their neck which is something there’s no return from. I wouldn’t joke about it, because wanting to kill someone is not caring about the pain their family would feel!
“So I tell @rondarousey I’m here and I’ll fight for a rematch in 2016, stronger, more mature, we’ll see each other again!
“I wanted to fight you and I got it. I’ll get that chance again and I’ll have my revenge at the right time!”
For the record, what Rousey actually said was that she would beat Correia into a “come to Jesus” moment. A Come to Jesus Moment is not death, it is something like the opposite of death. It is a sudden insight into the truth and admitting failure. Correia recognized the meaning of the line at the time.
There is no small irony in the fact that rather than the loss imparting a desire to speak the truth, Correia is instead twisting words in the interests of trash talk.
It may work, too.